Lose the Lawn

[InvasiveCreeper]

http://www.losethelawn.com/why.php

 

[Becky]

I guess that one depends where you live!

 

[Mint]

Couldn't be more true @Becky. That would certainly not work for me.

 

[Beth_B]

True! Anyway, just because one has a lawn, doesn't mean you're using tons of resources and gas and chemicals and doesn't mean you can't ALSO provide lots of native plants.

I'm no fan of manicured lawns, but my lot is a half acre and I simply cannot afford to plant the whole thing like a pretty native meadow even though I'd love to, and I know what grows here because I know what the side lot looked like before I bought it. - I'd have 5-6 foot tall perennial shrubs and ghetto palms and thistles and burdock and pokeweed everywhere. And then the township would notify that if I didn't clean it up, they'll charge me an exorbitant price monthly to do it for me. Oh, and with three dogs, I'd never be able to find all the dog poop.

So I mow enough of it to keep the twp off my back and looking relatively tidy, leave a bunch of the native and flowering stuff around the edges to go wild, and every year add to the perennial beds. Never water, never use chemicals or fertilizers (what looks like green "lawn" from a distance is probably at least half clover, creeping charlie, dandelions and other native groundcovers mowed short) and I provide some much-needed cash to my neighbor Craig every ten days or so for mowing it for me, which helps my micro-community.
'

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Beth, lawn alternatives are great, using groundcover is the way to go

Diversity is the key I think.

I am a big fan of the wild garden

http://stickywicketgarden.co.uk/

 

[claudine]

I like it In my opinion wild, natural lawns that are full of weeds look the prettiest and the most interesting.

 

[Beth_B]

Beth, lawn alternatives are great, using groundcover is the way to go

Diversity is the key I think.

I am a big fan of the wild garden

http://stickywicketgarden.co.uk/

That's pretty. At my last house I eliminated the entire front lawn (it was fairly small) and had nothing but ground cover and perennials, and a tiny pond. Next spring I'm going to do the same to my current front yard; I have some perennial beds now but want to get that "wild English blooming garden" thing going again. The upfront work and expense will be worth it.

My current place is half-wild as it is and I'm close enough to countryside that we have quite a few wild critters, plus I feed birds year around. When something native is blooming, Craig knows to ,mow around it. And I have a bigger pond now.

I really don't like the sterile suburban expanses of lawn, with little unimaginative flower beds along the front of McMansions. Just took this (early morning, damp) pic of part of my side yard, where I've done nothing except have the middle part mowed. There's lots of big burdock and flowering pokeweed right now, grape ivy, blackberries and raspberries along the back (the birds get all of the berries) and lots of dame's rocket, which is gorgeous when flowering but done now. And a dead tree and a pile of brush that needs to be removed.

 

[Pat]

The groundcovers in the front would be nice where I live now as we have a steep slope to the yard which makes it hard to cut with the mower. In California where watering your lawn is limited low maintenance groundcover is the answer for alot of homeowners.

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Beth,

Sounds beautiful

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

A few interesting links ~

http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grass-free-lawns/rethinking-the-traditional-grass-lawn/

https://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/the-lazy-lawn/

http://lawnreform.org/wildlife-and-native-plants/

http://lawnreform.org/

 

[Corzhens]

True! Anyway, just because one has a lawn, doesn't mean you're using tons of resources and gas and chemicals and doesn't mean you can't ALSO provide lots of native plants.

I'm no fan of manicured lawns, but my lot is a half acre and I simply cannot afford to plant the whole thing like a pretty native meadow even though I'd love to, and I know what grows here because I know what the side lot looked like before I bought it. - I'd have 5-6 foot tall perennial shrubs and ghetto palms and thistles and burdock and pokeweed everywhere. And then the township would notify that if I didn't clean it up, they'll charge me an exorbitant price monthly to do it for me. Oh, and with three dogs, I'd never be able to find all the dog poop.

So I mow enough of it to keep the twp off my back and looking relatively tidy, leave a bunch of the native and flowering stuff around the edges to go wild, and every year add to the perennial beds. Never water, never use chemicals or fertilizers (what looks like green "lawn" from a distance is probably at least half clover, creeping charlie, dandelions and other native groundcovers mowed short) and I provide some much-needed cash to my neighbor Craig every ten days or so for mowing it for me, which helps my micro-community.
'

I envy your 3 dogs roaming in that vast space you have there. Our dream is to have a big space like that half acre of yours and make it a big lawn like what I used to see on tv - the little house on the prairie. That's all for the benefit of our 3 dogs. I'm sure they would enjoy roaming in such a big space of a garden. Surely your neighbor Craig is having a hard time in mowing that big garden.

 

[Cereus]

I wish people would ditch the lawns in this state because they're ugly and horrible. It's one of few states with a nice variety of butterflies but I haven't seen any in years because of the obsession people have with grass lawns versus native plants/groundcover mixes. Plus we're in the Monarch migratory path.

 

[ts_guest]

When I moved to my house in the desert southwest, there was no front lawn and a patchy ugly attempt at a lawn in the back yard. The front yard had 3/4 inch granite covering the entire space, with various desert cacti and succulent plants. Some were quite old and large. The back yard had a large diving pool.

Shortly after moving here I decided a grass lawn in back was not going to work for me for various reasons, so I had several tons of gravel poured on the ground. Around the edge of the back yard it looked like a jungle with all kinds of trees and large bushes. With the pool it looked nice, but was a lot of maintenance and watering.

So, no grass lawns for me, which is common in my area, because it's difficult to grow healthy grass here in the summer due to the heat and watering needs. Winter rye is easy to grow, but many people decide to not bother with it.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

I have lawns in front and back and I'm certified wildlife and pollinator habitat, my water bill is very low because I use rain water water for my gardens and clover lawns take less water because there roots go deep into the soil so you water less.